“Small things CAN bring you joy. My recent purchase of this Zojirushi coffee maker has made me very happy. Sounds like a commercial, but consider this … Last year, I bought a more expensive coffee maker that made terrible coffee! Instead of using the machine, I started making pour-overs. Something I hate to do … A year and a bunch of customer reviews later, I ordered this new baby, and I am so happy, I am writing about it here. I don’t know if it’s the water filter that water passes through or the fact that the water is introduced to the coffee a little bit differently, but the result is what I consider a perfect cup of coffee.”

CR’s take: Our highest-rated drip brewer with an insulated, thermal carafe, the Ninja Bar Brewer CF085 has plenty to recommend it. CR’s testers find that it offers superb brew performance and is very easy to use. In our member surveys, Ninja drip coffee makers received an Excellent rating for owner satisfaction. (We don’t yet have enough data to judge reliability.) This model has a full suite of features, including an unusual over-ice brew mode for making iced coffee. Ninja claims its thermal carafe will keep coffee hot for 2 hours, and the machine comes with a milk frother and a standalone French-press brewer. These features come at a price, of course; the Ninja Bar Brewer is the second most expensive model on this list.

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Perfect for iced coffee, iced lattes, iced tea and more, this system allows you to brew your very own gourmet iced drinks in just minutes! Simply place fresh ground coffee, loose leaf tea or tea bags into the removable filter basket, then enhance and customize the flavors by adding ingredients like sweeteners, citrus slices and herbs. Choose your brew strength using the selector dial, then turn the unit on to let the shower head perfectly saturate your ingredients for optimal flavor extraction....
Inspired by professional machines, this high-end coffee and espresso maker is designed to be simple to use. It has an intuitive touchscreen and a sleek design with an aluminum finish that will look good on display in your kitchen. All it takes is the touch of a button to produce cappuccino or latte comparable to your favorite coffee shop, or you can produce warm milk froth or hot water for your hot chocolate or other drinks.
This coffee and espresso machine from Miele is designed for ultimate convenience. Its control panel lets you choose from a variety of popular espresso drinks, and it can also be used to brew a pot of your favorite coffee. There’s even a built-in grinder with five settings so you get freshly ground beans every time. You can adjust the coffee strength based on your personal tastes and even create four “user profiles” based on your preferences. Finally, the machine includes a hot water spout so you can quickly make a cup of tea — no kettle required.

In later years, coffeemakers began to adopt more standardized forms commensurate with a large increase in the scale of production required to meet postwar consumer demand. Plastics and composite materials began to replace metal, particularly with the advent of newer electric drip coffeemakers in the 1970s. During the 1990s, consumer demand for more attractive appliances to complement expensive modern kitchens resulted in a new wave of redesigned coffeemakers in a wider range of available colors and styles.

This testing was designed to highlight the difference in how each machine extracted its coffee grounds. Remember, extraction is tied to water temperature, how long the grounds had to steep, and how evenly that water is distributed in the brew basket. (Depending on how the machine distributes the water and the shape of the basket, any particular ground may or may not receive the same amount of time in contact with water — thus any individual grind may be over-extracted, under-extracted, or just right.) Properly extracted grounds would have a balance of notes and aromas, from slight hints of acid to a pleasant amount of bitterness.

Combining a range of impressive features with the unique taste of freshly-brewed coffee, 10-Cup Grind and Brew Automatic Machine delivers outstanding results every morning. This coffee maker is equipped with a 5 setting conical burr grinder that lets you choose your ideal grind from coarse to fine. A highly intuitive control panel with crystal clear LCD display provides a flawless coffee-making experience with programmable auto-start to schedule the brew cycle and a 2-hour keep warm feature for...

“Strength, blend, decaf, cream, or sugar, there are many options when it comes to a cup of coffee. It seems every person has his or her own unique preferences to get them that perfect cup of joe. However, one factor that was often out of the home-coffee fan’s control was temperature. You either drank it at the temperature it came out of the coffee maker or you let it cool somewhat before sipping began. Cuisinart has aimed to turn that limitation on its head. This Cuisinart DCC-3650 adds a temperature control. It actually brews the coffee at one of three different user-defined temperatures. Impressive.”
Carafe style. Heavy coffee drinkers should look for a model with a thermal carafe. These coffee machines can keep your coffee warm for hours without having to sit on a burner, which can scald the liquid. Glass pots are not insulated and must sit on a heated burner to keep the coffee warm, so they’re an ideal choice for those who need only one or two cups a day. Some coffee drinkers insist that a glass carafe results in a better-tasting cup of joe.
When it comes to features, our top pick’s little sister, the OXO On 9-Cup Coffee Maker, looks and feels much the same: a single-button dial, programmable start times — even the timer that lets you know how old the coffee is after it’s been brewed is identical. On this version, the water reservoir isn’t detachable, but it brews coffee significantly faster than the 12-cupper’s 14 minutes(!) and it’s $100 cheaper. It’s a great machine that didn’t earn our top spot simply because the coffee it makes didn’t perform quite as well as the other three top picks in our taste tests, and it doesn’t let you tinker with water temperature and extraction the way the larger machine does.
The best part about this machine is that it comes with everything you need (except the beans). You don't have to spend an extra $100+ on a good grinder or $25-$100 on a milk frothing pitcher and tamper. You will pay a bit more for it than other machines on this list, but it's well worth it — especially now that this machine costs $548.96 instead of $999.99.
Rancilio Coffee Machine. Great Machine - producing espresso and cappuccino. Or even flat whites, hot chocolate etc. I have had this machine for around four years but stopped using it when I changed to stove top pots. Lovely addition to any kitchen. Comes with original instructions and spares - also complimentary coffee pods. Heavy. Re-listed due to mind changer.
For all the coffee drinkers and aficionados who despise the long café lines, dread the overwhelming coffee options or need a fix for those early morning caffeine pains – fear no more! There’s finally an affordable, low-maintenance coffeemaker that can brew basic or premium-roast coffee in a fraction of the cost as the coffeehouse: The Two-Way Brewer. With stainless steel durability and twice the brewing options as other leading coffeemakers, the Two-Way Brewer doubles as a compact...
The best coffeehouse in town is on your countertop with the Ninja Coffee Bar™ brewer. Ninja’s patent-pending brewing technology is designed to deliver better, richer- tasting coffee with variable richness levels that are never bitter. Only the Ninja Coffee Bar brewer has Thermal Flavor Extraction, which truly unlocks the full flavor potential of your coffee. Only Ninja® Auto-iQ™ One-Touch Intelligence allows you to CHOOSE A SIZE, CHOOSE A BREW. Auto-iQ™ One Touch Intelligence draws...
CR’s take: For $80, this Mr. Coffee 12-cup drip brewer is surprisingly stylish. Its airy design sets it apart from the blocky shapes common to the category. This model earns a rating of Very Good in CR’s brew-performance tests and makes a full pot in just 9 minutes. It offers brew-strength control, programming, and a permanent coffee filter. With its performance and striking appearance, you might not mind having it out on the counter—especially in a kitchen with a stainless fridge and range.